The Republican Obama (Or Will He Be a Kennedy?)

Since coming from behind to win the 2010 election for senator in Florida, Marco Rubio has born the stamp of being a Republican Obama. With the formalization of his candidature in the Republican presidential primaries on Monday, he wants to invest in what is considered the best part of that label: being a young politician, from humble origins, a son of Cuban immigrants, who defeats the expectations and the dynastic favorites. The jump to the White House in one generation is proof of the greatness of the “American dream.”

In the case of Obama, on the other side, in the 2008 Democratic primaries, there was queen Hillary Clinton. In the case of Rubio, before [the primaries], is the middle-of-the- road prince Jeb Bush, who also is about to make his candidature official. Ironically, before the election in 2010, Bush, the former governor of Florida, incentivized his political godson to step up the pace and run for the Senate. Now, there is the Shakespearean plot of a son, who betrayed his father and assumed his ambitions for the throne.

Marco Rubio wants to go down in history as the first Latino president in the White House by triumphing in the November 2016 elections. In contrast to Mitt Romney in 2012 and Jeb Bush now, he is one of the favorites of the tea party and has wound up with the necessary pragmatism, in the name of the ideological purity of the ultraconservative movement distancing himself from support of immigration reform, which would open the door to millions of undocumented residents to formalize their status in the country. He gained some strength in the primaries, but lost his “appeal” as a Republican candidate capable of seducing a growing electorate of Latin origins or of merely being adjusted to a framework of ethnic diversity in the USA.

Rubio hopes to compensate for his changing stance on immigration with messages that focus on the need for socio-economic policies that reduce income inequalities in the country (but more through opportunities than redistributionism). Without doubt, he has more charisma than Romney, and on top of that has not been labeled as a plutocrat.

Unlike candidate Rand Paul, but like Ted Cruz, the other son of Cuba who is equally beloved by the tea party, Rubio takes the position of a hawk in foreign policy. As might be expected, he fires shots incessantly against an accord on the Irananian nuclear program and the rapprochement between the U.S. and Cuba, although two-thirds of Americans are in favor of this initiative, even among the younger electorate of Cuban origins in Florida.

For me, it is difficult to see Marco Rubio as having much of a chance in the Republican primaries race. However, I recognize his attributes, such as charisma, youthfulness, and the capacity to act outside of the demographic bubble of the Republican Party (in spite of his retreat on immigration) may gain him points, in addition to his ability to overtake competitors by coming from way behind. Another positive point is his willingness to keep bridges open to the Republican establishment, in contrast to the irascible Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. And, despite being a card-carrying conservative driven by the tea party, he knows that politics in Washington require making compromises. His immediate challenges are to gain national recognition and skillfully run between the various Republican factions in the marathon of the primaries.

Charles Krauthammer, a conservative guru whom I respect well, has made a prognostication that Marco Rubio, 43 years old, may be the underdog in the Republican primary, an excellent contrast to the sexagenarian queen Hillary Clinton. A recent poll in The Wall Street Journal/NBC News revealed that 56 percent of probable voters in the Republican primaries would consider voting for Rubio, the best performance in a crowd of aspirants. Krauthammer never made a parallel with Obama. He said that Marcio Rubio has the vigor and energy of a John Kennedy, that young senator and plutocrat prince of the Democrats who won the election in 1960 when he was 43 years old.